Method and system for intelligent routing

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for intelligent routing. An intelligent routing processing module sets at least one intelligent routing trigger condition and at least one corresponding intelligent routing policy in advance, and an incoming call or message is processed according to intelligent routing contact manners in the intelligent routing policy. The intelligent routing trigger condition includes relevant information of the incoming call or message and the intelligent routing policy may include more than one intelligent routing contact manner. The embodiments of the present invention may provide more intelligent routing contact manners and intelligent routing policies for communication routing technology and may make full use of subscriber presence information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/363,971, filed on Feb. 1, 2012, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/845,611, filed onAug. 27, 2007, which is a continuation of International PatentApplication No. PCT/CN2006/000344, filed on Mar. 8, 2006. TheInternational Patent Application claims priority to Chinese PatentApplication No. 200510055231.3, filed on Mar. 16, 2005, and ChinesePatent Application No. 200510063128.3, filed on Apr. 4, 2005. Theafore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a routing technique in the field ofcommunication technologies, and particularly, to methods and systems forintelligent routing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In conventional circuit switched domain services, a subscriber maysubscribe to at least one of multiple called side services, such as callwaiting, call forwarding unconditional, call forwarding busy and callforwarding no reply. The multiple called side services provide forincoming calls different called side contact manners of forwarding andwaiting. The multiple called side services are independent of each otherand their trigger points are set as the following three: the calledparty being busy, the called party giving no answer and withoutconditions, which cover limited application scenarios, e.g., a scenariothat the subscriber hopes to forward a call during meeting is notcovered.

With the development of voice services over packet switched domain, acall intelligent routing service has emerged currently. The callintelligent routing service is customized by a subscriber in advance,and provides different forwarding patterns for incoming calls based onsubscriber presence information, such as serial call forwarding,parallel call forwarding, call forwarding to voice mailbox, and callinformation converted to text information. The subscriber may publishhis presence information, such as “I'm in a meeting”, in a packetswitched domain through network messages such as the Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) PUBLISH message. The scenario that the user hopes toforward the call during meeting is thus fulfilled. However, the inventorof the present invention finds that there are still disadvantages belowof the conventional technical scheme.

Firstly, called contract modes provided for incoming calls are mainlylimited to call forwarding services and do not cover other effectiverouting contact manners such as call waiting, queue, and call recordconverted to email. Therefore there are few routing contact manners.

Secondly, there is a lack of the call intelligent routing service foruser groups, e.g., a Centrex group and a pickup group, there is no morethan one intelligent routing policy based on different called attributeidentities such as a called number or a group number to which the calledparty belongs either.

Thirdly, the subscriber presence information, as one of the triggerconditions for intelligent routing, includes explicit presenceinformation and implicit presence information; the former is thepresence information published in the network by the subscriber incertain manner, while the latter is the natural presence information ofthe subscriber terminal in the network, such as the device connectionstatus, service applications, and network locations and types. However,not all the possible implicit presence information can be fully usedcurrently, and it is hard for the subscriber, while customizingservices, to precisely describe a status of the subscriber when anintelligent routing service is triggered.

Moreover, all conventional messaging services, such as Instant Messaging(IM), Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),email, voice mail, fax, and paging messaging, have their own applicationnetworks respectively. In order to effectively unify these messagingservices, a unified messaging service has emerged in the industry. Theunified messaging service integrates the messaging services which werepreviously carried out respectively through networks such as thetelephone network, the paging network, the mobile network and theInternet, such that a subscriber may receive messages from variousmessaging services in any manner, for example, a voice message may besent through email as the attachment of the email.

To be brief, a unified messaging system may be regarded as an integratedmailbox which may store and forward information of all types fromvarious terminals, including the instant messages, short messages,multimedia messages, email, voice massages, fax and Paging messages. Asubscriber may send and receive all these messages anywhere and anytimethrough devices such as a telephone, a fax machine, a personal computer(in communication with the Internet), a cell phone and a pager.

However, applications of a unified messaging service are still limitedbecause the unified messaging service focuses on the conversion betweendifferent types of messages and provides a system framework applicationthat is comparatively fixed, e.g., a unified messaging email box may beprovided for the subscriber and all the information received isconverted into email to be sent to the subscriber. There are notcomprehensive pre-customized intelligent routing policies for all typesof messaging services above, for example:

-   -   the conversion of various incoming messages is a main service        provided, while no other effective contact manner, such as        message forwarding or message converted to call, is provided;    -   the unified messages may not be processed based on all possible        presence information of the destination subscriber, and there is        no effective conjunction with other related applications, e.g.,        the presence information may not be in conjunction with        real-time call control; as a result, classified demands of the        subscriber may not be satisfied, e.g., the subscriber may wish a        short message sent from his family to be converted into a voice        call that may be answered through an onboard mobile phone while        he/she is driving and is unable to check a short message;    -   the unified messages may not be processed for user groups        including the Centrex group and the pickup group, and there are        not intelligent routing policies based on different called        attribute identities, such as a called number or a group number        to which the called party belongs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods and systems for intelligentrouting to solve the problem in the prior art of communication routingtechnology with regard to the lack of routing contact manners androuting policies and the problem that subscriber status informationcannot be fully utilized.

The technical scheme in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention is described below.

In an embodiment, a method for intelligent routing includes:

triggering an incoming call to an intelligent routing processing moduleat a designated trigger point;

triggering, by the intelligent routing processing module, an intelligentrouting service, acquiring relevant information of the incoming call andcomposing at least one intelligent routing trigger condition of theincoming call with the relevant information;

matching the intelligent routing trigger condition of the incoming callwith preset intelligent routing trigger conditions and obtaining atleast one intelligent routing policy including at least one intelligentrouting contact manner; and

routing the incoming call according to the intelligent routing contactmanner in the intelligent routing policy.

In an embodiment, a system for intelligent routing includes:

-   -   a call session control function unit, adapted for triggering an        incoming call;    -   an intelligent routing processing module, in communication with        the call session control function unit, adapted for receiving        the incoming call from the call session control function unit,        performing logic control for an intelligent routing service; and    -   a subscriber presence information processing module, in        communication with one of the intelligent routing processing        module and the call session control function unit, adapted for        collecting and publishing subscriber presence information and        providing the subscriber presence information for the        intelligent routing processing module.

In an embodiment, a method for intelligent routing includes:

-   -   triggering an incoming message to an intelligent routing        processing module;    -   triggering, by the intelligent routing processing module, an        intelligent routing service, acquiring relevant information of        the incoming message and composing at least one intelligent        routing trigger condition of the incoming message with the        relevant information of the incoming message;    -   matching, by the intelligent routing processing module, the        intelligent routing trigger condition of the incoming message        with preset intelligent routing trigger conditions, obtaining at        least one intelligent routing policy which comprises at least        one intelligent routing contact manner and sending the        intelligent routing policy to a unified messaging server; and    -   routing, by the unified messaging server, the incoming message        according to the intelligent routing contact manner in the        intelligent routing policy.

In an embodiment, a system for intelligent routing includes:

-   -   a unified messaging server, adapted for triggering an incoming        message, processing the incoming message according to an        intelligent routing policy;    -   an intelligent routing processing module, in communication with        the unified messaging server, adapted for acquiring the        intelligent routing policy according to the incoming message        triggered by the unified messaging server, and providing the        intelligent routing policy for the unified messaging server; and    -   a subscriber presence information processing module, in        communication with the intelligent routing processing module,        adapted for collecting and publishing subscriber presence        information, and providing the subscriber presence information        for the intelligent routing processing module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a system forintelligent routing in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for intelligent routing in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a system forintelligent routing in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for intelligent routing in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are described with reference toaccompanying drawings.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an intelligentrouting processing module sets intelligent routing trigger conditionsand intelligent routing policies in advance, and processes an incomingcall or message in accordance with an intelligent routing contact mannerin the intelligent routing policy. The intelligent routing triggerconditions include relevant information of the incoming call or message,and the intelligent routing policy may include one or more intelligentrouting contact manners. The relevant information of the incoming callor message includes the called attribute identity, the incoming callattribute, the called presence information and the current time.

A method and a system for intelligent routing in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention provide, for a voice or video callwith a designated destination, a call intelligent routing service basedon one or more called attribute identities, the incoming call attribute,the called presence information and the current time, such that theincoming call may be processed according to one or more intelligentrouting contact manners in the intelligent routing policy customized inadvance by a destination subscriber. The incoming call will be processeduntil an application of a contact manner succeeds (the application ofannouncement pickup excluded) or until all the intelligent routingcontact manners have been handled.

The intelligent routing system provided by the embodiment of the presentinvention is shown in FIG. 1, including a call session control functionunit, an intelligent routing processing module in communication with thecall session control function unit, a subscriber presence informationprocessing module in communication with the intelligent routingprocessing module or in communication with the call session controlfunction unit, and a unified messaging server.

The call session control function unit provides, for the calls of asubscriber, processing functions including session proceeding,addressing, session status management, etc. The call session controlfunction unit is an independent physical device, such as a soft switch.The subscriber may access, in certain manner, the call session controlfunction unit that is registered to the home domain of the subscriber.

The intelligent routing processing module provides the subscriber withhosting environment of logic control of intelligent routing service, itmay be an independent physical device, e.g., an application server, insuch a case, an interface I1 is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)interface; or the intelligent routing processing module may be resident,with an interface I1 being a self-defining internal interface, in thecall session control function unit.

The subscriber presence information processing module collects andpublishes subscriber presence information, and provides subscriberpresence information needed in service control for the call intelligentrouting service. The subscriber presence information includes explicitpresence information and implicit presence information. The subscriberpresence information processing module may be a logic function networkelement, and the logic function network element is in communication andinteracts with the intelligent routing processing module through theinterface I2, or is in communication with the call session controlfunction unit through the interface I2 and interacts with theintelligent routing processing module via the call session controlfunction unit. The subscriber presence information processing module maybe an independent physical device such as a presence server, at thispoint, the interface I2 is an SIP interface through which the subscriberpresence information is sent to the intelligent routing processingmodule. Optionally, the subscriber presence information processingmodule may be resident, with the interface I2 being a self-defininginternal interface, in the intelligent routing processing module.

The unified messaging server processes various types of messages,generates and sends the email, SMS, MMS and IM for the call intelligentrouting service. The unified messaging server is usually an independentphysical device which is in communication connection with and interactswith the intelligent routing processing module through the interface I3,or is in communication connection with the call session control functionunit through the interface I3 and interacts with the intelligent routingprocessing module via the call session control function unit. TheInterface I3 is an SIP interface.

The destination subscriber in the embodiment of the present inventionhas an identifiable unique public identity in a communication network,i.e., a called number, which may be a telephone number of thedestination subscriber, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address, aspecial service number, a telephone exchange number, etc.

In the intelligent routing method and system provided in the embodimentof the present invention, the called attribute identity may be thecalled number or the number of the user group to which the called partybelongs, and the intelligent routing trigger condition includes thecalled attribute identity, the incoming call attribute, the calledpresence information and the current time. An intelligent routingtrigger condition may correspond to multiple intelligent routing contactmanners including incoming call barring, serial call forwarding,parallel call forwarding, call forwarded to voice mailbox or secretarystation, call converted to email, call converted to data message, calldistributing, call waiting, queue, announcement pickup and callbackregister.

The intelligent routing processing module acquires a destinationaddress, i.e. the called number, from an initial incoming call andrecords the destination address as the called attribute identity. Theintelligent routing processing module may also search attribute datasheets of the called party, obtain the valid number of a group to whichthe called party belongs, such as a Centrex group number or a pickupgroup number, and record the valid number of a group as the calledattribute identity. The pickup group is a group in which all groupmembers may pick up an incoming call in a same way.

From the initial incoming call, the intelligent routing processingmodule may also acquire and record attributes of the incoming call,which may include one or any combination of the caller number, the mediatype of the incoming call and the call attribute of the incoming call.The media type of the incoming call refers to media capability andcoding modes supported by the incoming call, such as voice and video.The incoming call attribute may be distance call, Centrex in-group call,Centrex out-group call, etc.

The called presence information is one or the combination of theexplicit presence information and the implicit presence information ofthe called party. The explicit presence information is presenceinformation published by the subscriber in a network by a means, e.g. byan SIP PUBLISH message which is from the subscriber terminal to thenetwork and contains the presence information; the implicit presenceinformation is current natural presence information of the subscriberterminal in the network, such as connection statuses of devices, serviceapplications, and location and type of the visited network. The methodsthrough which the intelligent routing processing module acquires thesubscriber presence information include the following.

Method A: the call session control function unit of the home domain ofthe called party triggers a message containing the subscriber presenceinformation to the intelligent routing processing module, such as theSIP PUBLISH message, call signaling message, network registrationmessage and network de-registration message. The intelligent routingprocessing module acquires and records the subscriber presenceinformation; Method B: the subscriber presence information is maintainedand managed by the presence server in the network, and the intelligentrouting processing module subscribes to the subscriber presenceinformation needed at the presence server, e.g., subscribes through anSIP SUBSCRIBE message; the presence server informs, e.g., through an SIPNOTIFY message, the intelligent routing processing module of thesubscriber presence information when a subscription message is receivedor when the subscriber presence information changes.

The destination subscriber has to customize intelligent routing triggerconditions and corresponding intelligent routing contact manners inadvance so as to utilize intelligent routing services. Generally, theintelligent routing trigger conditions and corresponding intelligentrouting contact manners may be designed in the form of a data sheetcalled a call intelligent routing service data sheet. As the calledattribute identity may be the called number or the number of the usergroup to which the called party belongs, such as a Centrex group numberor a pickup group number, there are multiple call intelligent routingservice data sheets, such as a user call intelligent routing servicedata sheet, a Centex group call intelligent routing service data sheet,and a pickup group call intelligent routing service data sheet. Table 1and Table 2 below show the exemplary designs of the user callintelligent routing service data sheet and the Centex group callintelligent routing service data sheet respectively (the two data sheetsshown do not include all possible fields and are not the only format ofsuch data sheets).

TABLE 1 Intelligent routing Intelligent routing trigger conditionscontact manners Called Incoming Called Time Processing Incoming callbarring number call presence order No. Serial call forwarding attributeinformation Parallel call forwarding Call forwarded to voice mailbox orsecretary station Call converted to email Call converted to data messageCall distributing Call waiting Queue Announcement pickup Callbackregister

TABLE 2 Intelligent routing Intelligent routing trigger conditionscontact manners Number of Incoming Called Time Processing Incoming callbarring the call presence order No. Serial call forwarding Centrexattribute information Parallel call group to forwarding which the Callforwarded to called voice mailbox or party secretary station belongsCall converted to email Call converted to data message Call distributingCall Waiting Queue Announcement pickup Callback register

The processing order number (No.) includes Arabic numerals starting from1, indicating the processing order of the contact manners of anintelligent routing policy. Eleven intelligent routing contact mannersare given in the examples above and every entry set by the destinationsubscriber in the data sheet may include only one contact manner, i.e.,an intelligent routing trigger condition plus a processing order numbermatches only one contact manner. An identical intelligent routingtrigger condition may correspond to one or more contact manners withdifferent processing order numbers, and multiple contact mannersorganized in a series according to their processing order numberscompose an intelligent routing policy.

The destination subscriber may set the call intelligent routing servicedata sheets above according to his own wish, and the data in the datasheets will be loaded into the intelligent routing processing module.The called attribute identity herein is a required field while thefields of incoming call attribute, called presence information and timeare optional. If the destination subscriber does not set a value for anoptional field, the field will not be considered while matching theintelligent routing trigger conditions.

The flowchart of a method for intelligent routing provided by anembodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2, including thefollowing.

Block 21: a call session control function unit of the home domain of thecalled party triggers an incoming call, e.g., a voice or video incomingcall, at a designated trigger point to an intelligent routing processingmodule without any condition or according to the static configurationdata.

In the process of triggering the incoming call to the intelligentrouting processing module at the designated trigger point, the callsession control function unit triggers the incoming call to theintelligent routing processing module only when an initial incoming callis received, or only when a failure response to the initial incomingcall is received.

Block 22: the intelligent routing processing module triggers intelligentrouting services, generates at least one intelligent routing triggercondition for the incoming call according to the called attributeidentity and the incoming call attribute that are acquired from theincoming call, the called presence information and the current time.

The intelligent routing processing module generates one intelligentrouting trigger condition according to certain called attributeidentity, the incoming call attribute and the called presenceinformation plus current time; or the intelligent routing processingmodule generates multiple intelligent routing trigger conditionsaccording to more than one different called attribute identitiesrespectively and the same incoming call attribute, the called presenceinformation and the current time.

The trigger point at which the intelligent routing processing moduletriggers the call intelligent routing service for an identical incomingcall can be one of the following three scenarios:

-   -   firstly, the intelligent routing processing module triggers the        intelligent routing service once only in response to receiving        the initial incoming call;    -   secondly, the intelligent routing processing module triggers the        intelligent routing service once only in response to receiving a        first failure response to the incoming call;    -   thirdly, when the intelligent routing processing module has        triggered the intelligent routing service once in response to        receiving the initial incoming call and the application of the        intelligent routing service has failed, the intelligent routing        processing module triggers the intelligent routing service once        again only in response to receiving the first failure response        to the incoming call.

Block 23: match the generated intelligent routing trigger condition withpreset intelligent routing trigger conditions. When a preset intelligentrouting trigger condition is found to be matched with the generatedintelligent routing trigger condition, preset intelligent routingcontact manners may be obtained. Through matching the generatedintelligent routing trigger condition, multiple intelligent routingcontact manners in a series according to their processing order numbersare obtained and an intelligent routing policy is composed.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the called attributeidentity may be the called number and the numbers of the user groups towhich the called party belongs at the same time, thus there may be oneor more intelligent routing trigger conditions for one incoming call.When the intelligent routing processing module triggers the intelligentrouting service, the intelligent routing processing module matchesdifferent called attribute identities (e.g., the called number, theCentrex group number of the called party and the pickup group number ofthe called) and the same incoming call attribute, called presenceinformation and current time with all possible preset intelligenttrigger conditions in turn, so as to obtain at least one routing policy.

As shown in Table 1, the intelligent routing processing module searchesthe user call intelligent routing service data sheet according to thecalled number, incoming call attribute, called presence information andcurrent time, and obtains a user intelligent routing policy if thesearching succeeds. As shown in Table 2, if the called party also has avalid group number, such as a Centrex group number, the intelligentrouting processing module also searches the Centrex group callintelligent routing service data sheet according to the Centrex groupnumber, incoming call attribute, called presence information and currenttime, and obtains a Centrex group intelligent routing policy if thesearching succeeds.

Block 24: the intelligent routing processing module processes theincoming call according to the intelligent routing contact manners inthe obtained intelligent routing policy.

When more than one intelligent routing policy is obtained, theintelligent routing processing module may handle every intelligentrouting policy according to agreed or preset order, or may apply onlythe intelligent routing policy with the highest priority according toagreed or preset priority.

The intelligent routing contact manners in the intelligent routingpolicy provided by the embodiment of the present invention may be one orany orderly combination of incoming call barring, serial callforwarding, parallel call forwarding, call forwarded to voice mailbox orsecretary station, call converted to email, call converted to datamessage, call distributing, call waiting, queue, announcement pickup andcallback register; however, the intelligent routing contact mannersprovided by the embodiment of the present invention are not limited tothe above and may include other intelligent routing contact manners. Theintelligent routing processing module applies each intelligent routingcontact manner according to the predetermined order until theapplication of a contact manner succeeds (the application ofannouncement pickup excluded), thus the call intelligent routing serviceis terminated even if there are other preset contact manners or otherintelligent routing policies left unprocessed. Optionally, when theapplications of all contact manners fail (the application ofannouncement pickup excluded), the intelligent routing processing modulecontinues with other intelligent routing policies if there are stillother intelligent routing policies to be processed; otherwise, the callintelligent routing service is terminated.

The method through which the intelligent routing processing moduleprocesses the incoming call according to the obtained intelligentrouting policy includes the following processing patterns.

First, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of incoming callbarring in the intelligent routing policy, showing that he bars theincoming call. The intelligent routing processing module directly barsthe incoming call and thus the application of the contact manner ofincoming call barring succeeds.

Second, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of serial callforwarding in the intelligent routing policy, which includes one or moreforwarding destination addresses, showing that the incoming call shallbe forwarded to the forwarding destination addresses according to apredetermined order until one of the forwarding destination addressesanswers, or until none of the forwarding destination addresses answers.The intelligent routing processing module initiates a new call to everyforwarding destination address one by one according to the predeterminedorder until the new call is answered, or until none of the forwardingdestination addresses answers. When calling a forwarding destinationaddress, the intelligent routing processing module starts up an answermonitor timer in response to receiving a ring signal. If the forwardingdestination address has not yet answered when the answer monitor timerexpires, the intelligent routing processing module regards that theforwarding destination address cannot answer. The duration of the answermonitor timer for a forwarding destination address may be designated bythe destination subscriber directly in the intelligent routing policy,or be designated by default by the intelligent routing processing moduleaccording to an agreement.

Third, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of parallel callforwarding in the intelligent routing policy, which includes one or moreforwarding destination addresses, showing that the incoming call shallbe forwarded to all of the forwarding destination addresses at the sametime until a first forwarding destination address is answered, or untilnone of the forwarding destination addresses can be answered. Theintelligent routing processing module initiates new calls to allforwarding destination addresses at the same time until a first new callis answered, then the intelligent routing processing module releases allother new calls which are yet to be answered, or until none of theforwarding destination addresses can be answered.

Fourth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of callforwarded to voice mailbox or secretary station in the intelligentrouting policy, which includes a number of the voice mailbox or a numberof the secretary station, showing that the incoming call should beforwarded to the voice mailbox or the secretary station. The intelligentrouting processing module initiates a call to the voice mailbox or thesecretary station until the call is answered, or until the voice mailboxor the secretary station does not answer.

Fifth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of callconverted to email in the intelligent routing policy, which includes oneor more forwarding email addresses, showing that caller side informationand/or a message left of the incoming call should be forwarded to theforwarding email addresses one by one according to a predetermined orderuntil a forwarding email address receives the caller side informationand/or message left of the incoming call, or until none of theforwarding email addresses can be reached. The method includes theprocesses of generating an email containing the caller side informationand/or the message left of the incoming call by a unified messagingserver, forwarding the email to the forwarding email addresses one byone according to a predetermined order until a forwarding email addressreceives the email, or until none of the forwarding email addresses canbe reached. The email may be generated through one of the followingmethods:

-   -   (1) the intelligent routing processing module initiates a new        initial request to the unified messaging server for the incoming        call, it is indicated in the new initial request that the        incoming call shall be converted to email and the forwarding        email addresses are also designated in the new initial request;        in response to receiving and parsing the new initial request,        the unified messaging server applies for media resources to        notify the caller of the incoming call to leave a message, and        when the caller has left a message, generates an email        containing the caller number of the incoming call and the        message left by the caller;    -   (2) the intelligent routing processing module directly applies        for media resources to notify the caller to leave a message, and        when the caller has left a message, sends a message that        contains both the caller number of the incoming call and the        message left by the caller to the unified messaging server to        indicate that the incoming call shall be converted to email and        to designate the forwarding email addresses; in response to        receiving the message, the unified messaging server parses the        message and generates an email containing the caller number of        the incoming call and the message left by the caller.

The format of the message left by the caller may be one of thefollowing: the URL link address of a record file, a record file inMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) format, the text format ofa record converted by an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) resource forwhich the unified messaging server or intelligent routing processingmodule has applied.

If the caller fails to leave a message, the unified messaging server mayalso send an email in text format to the forwarding email addresscontaining only the incoming call attribute, such as the caller number.

Sixth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of callconverted to data message in the intelligent routing policy. The datamessage may be one of a short message, a multimedia message, an instantmessage or a paging message, and the contact manner includes one or morecorresponding destination numbers, showing that the caller sideinformation and/or the message left of the incoming call shall beforwarded based on the type of data message to destination addresses oneby one according to a predetermined order until a destination addressreceives the data message, or until none of the destination addressescan be reached. Specifically, the method includes the processes ofgenerating a data message containing the caller side information and/orthe message left of the incoming call by a unified messaging server,forwarding the data message to destination addresses of the data messageone by one according to a predetermined order until a destinationaddress receives the data message, or until none of the destinationaddresses can be reached. The data message may be generated through oneof the following methods.

In one method, the intelligent routing processing module initiates a newinitial request to the unified messaging server for the incoming call.In the new initial request, it is indicated that the incoming call shallbe converted to a data message, and the destination numbers aredesignated. In response to receiving and parsing the new initialrequest, the unified messaging server applies for media resources tonotify the caller of the incoming call to leave a message, and, when thecaller has left a message, generates a data message containing thecaller number of the incoming call and the message left by the caller.

In the other method, the intelligent routing processing module directlyapplies for media resources to notify the caller to leave a message,and, when the caller has left a message, sends certain messagecontaining the caller number of the incoming call and the message leftby the caller to the unified messaging server to indicate that theincoming call shall be converted to a type of data message and todesignate the destination addresses. In response to receiving themessage, the unified messaging server parses the message and generates adata message that contains both the caller number of the incoming calland the message left by the caller.

The format of the message left by the caller may be one of thefollowing: URL link address of a record file, a record file in MIMEformat (the MIME format cannot be employed when the data message is SMSor Paging message), the text format of a record converted by an ASRresource for which the unified messaging server or intelligent routingprocessing module has applied.

If the caller fails to leave a message, the unified messaging server mayalso send a message in text format that only contains the incoming callattribute, such as the caller number, to the destination number.

Seventh, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of calldistributing in the intelligent routing policy, which includes one ormore pickup group numbers, inter-group distribution modes and in-groupdistribution modes, showing that the incoming call shall be distributedto an idle subscriber in these pickup groups according to a designateddistribution mode until the incoming call is answered, or until none ofsubscribers in the pickup groups can answer. The intelligent routingprocessing module distributes the incoming call to a pickup groupaccording to a designated inter-group distribution mode, and furthercalls the idle subscriber in the pickup group according to a designatedin-group distribution mode, until the incoming call is answered or noneof subscribers in the pickup groups can answer.

-   -   The inter-group distribution modes include:    -   distributing in sequence, i.e., according to the sequence of the        pickup group numbers;

distributing to the idlest one, i.e., according to the number of idlesubscribers in each pickup group.

-   -   The in-group distribution modes include:    -   distributing simultaneously, i.e., initiating a call to all idle        subscribers in the pickup group at the same time by the        intelligent routing processing module in response to receiving        the incoming call;    -   distributing in sequence, i.e., initiating calls to idle        subscribers in the pickup group according to the sequence of the        identities of the idle subscribers.

Eighth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of call waitingin the intelligent routing policy, showing that the incoming call shallbe waiting when the destination subscriber is busy, and the destinationsubscriber is notified that there is a new incoming call. Theintelligent routing processing module should employ the contact mannerof call waiting when the destination subscriber of the incoming call isin conversation. The intelligent routing processing module plays aprompting tone or sends a prompting message such as an SIP message tonotify the caller of the new incoming call to wait. Meanwhile theintelligent routing processing module also plays a prompting tone orsends a prompting message such as an SIP message to notify thedestination subscriber of the new incoming call, the destinationsubscriber may choose to answer the new incoming call through anoperation.

Generally, the intelligent routing processing module will initiate acall waiting timer for the incoming call to monitor the call waitingstate, if the incoming call has not been answered when the call waitingtimer expires, the intelligent routing processing module will usuallyrelease the incoming call. The duration of the call waiting timer can bedesignated directly by the destination subscriber in the intelligentrouting policy, or designated by default by the intelligent routingprocessing module.

Ninth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of queue in theintelligent routing policy, showing that the incoming call shall bewaiting in the queue of the destination subscriber. The intelligentrouting processing module assigns a queue to the destination subscriberto store information of the incoming call, and plays a prompting tone orsends a prompting message such as an SIP message to the caller of theincoming call, notifying the caller to queue. Generally, the intelligentrouting processing module will initiate a queue timer for the incomingcall to monitor the state of the incoming call, if the incoming call hasnot been answered yet when the queue timer expires, the intelligentrouting processing module will usually release the incoming call. Theduration of the queue timer can be designated directly by thedestination subscriber in the intelligent routing policy, or designatedby default by the intelligent routing processing module. The destinationsubscriber may answer the incoming call through one of the followingmethods.

-   -   (1) The intelligent routing processing module sends a prompting        message to the destination subscriber, e.g., an SIP message, for        notifying the destination subscriber of a new incoming call;        information of incoming calls is displayed on a kind of terminal        interface of the destination subscriber according to calling        time, and the destination subscriber may choose to answer one of        the incoming calls through an operation, then the intelligent        routing processing module deletes the information of the        answered incoming call from the queue.    -   (2) The intelligent routing processing module retrieves, when        the destination subscriber is idle, the information of an        incoming call from the queue according to the rule of First In        First Out, and initiates a new initial request to the        destination subscriber; when the incoming call is answered, the        intelligent routing process module deletes the information of        the answered incoming call from the queue.

Tenth, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of announcementpickup in the intelligent routing policy, which includes an announcementtype, showing that a designated announcement will be played to thecaller of the incoming call. The intelligent routing processing moduleapplies for corresponding resources of announcement according to thetype of the designated announcement, creates a session between theincoming call and the corresponding resources of announcement, and thecaller of the incoming call listens to the designated announcement.

The announcement may be set by the network, or be recorded in advance bythe destination subscriber. For example, when the announcement type is“number change announcement”, the announcement may be set by thenetwork, the destination subscriber sets a new destination number in thecontact manner in advance and the intelligent routing processing moduleapplies for the resources of announcement with the new destinationnumber; or the announcement may also be recorded by the destinationsubscriber in advance, giving the new destination number in theannouncement recorded.

If the application of the announcement pickup succeeds and there areother contact manners in the intelligent routing policy, the intelligentrouting processing module continues with the rest contact manners untilthe application of the last contact manner or the application of onecontact manner before the last contact manner succeeds.

Eleventh, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of callbackregister in the intelligent routing policy, which includes a callbackcondition which is called presence information that must be differentfrom the called presence information in the intelligent routingconditions corresponding to the intelligent routing policy. The callbackcondition shows that the calling and the called sides of the incomingcall shall be recorded and the incoming call shall be released, suchthat a connection between the calling and the called sides shall becreated automatically when the callback condition is triggered. Theintelligent routing processing module records the caller number, thecalled number and the callback condition of the incoming call, andreleases the incoming call in response to setting a “callback activationidentity” for the called party. In a successful application of thecontact manner of callback register, the caller of the incoming call maybe called back when the called presence information changes into thecallback condition.

When the called presence information changes, the intelligent routingprocessing module determines that the “callback activation identity” isvalid and that the called presence information is the callback conditioncurrently, the intelligent routing processing module invokes a callbackservice and establishes a call automatically between the caller and thecalled party when both of the caller and the called party are idle, andconnects a conversation between the caller and the called party.

The intelligent routing policy includes one or more contact mannerscustomized in advance; whether the processing order of the contactmanners is logically appropriate may be determined by the destinationsubscriber while configuring data for customizing a service withoutintervention of a system, or the system may provide data consistencycheck when the data is configured, and the data consistency check isperformed according to some agreed conditions, e.g., incoming callbarring or callback register should be a last contact manner in anintelligent routing policy usually.

It can be seen from the above that contact may be created for anincoming call, e.g., a voice or video incoming call with a designateddestination through one or more contact manners customized by thedestination subscriber in advance; when the destination subscriberwishes, he can always establish a session connection successfully forthe incoming call according to his desire and current scenario, and hemay always establish an effective connection for the incoming callthrough contact manners available currently. In this way, not only thecall completion rate, but also the income of operators is increased.

And the subscriber can design different intelligent routing policiesconveniently for designated incoming calls. The following are someexamples.

When a subscriber is on a business trip, an announcement recorded by thesubscriber in advance may be played for an incoming call to indicate thecurrent status of the subscriber and the record of the incoming call maybe converted to email.

When the contact number of the subscriber changes, a “number changeannouncement” may be played for an incoming call to inform the caller ofcurrent contact number, then the incoming call may be forwarded to thecurrent contact number.

An enterprise may configure call intelligent routing policies for histelephone exchange or hotline number, e.g., it may set a first contactmanner to distribute incoming calls among one or more pickup groups(operator attendant groups), a second contact manner to make theincoming calls queue, a third contact manner to convert the incomingcalls to emails.

Another method and system provided by embodiments of the presentinvention for intelligent routing are described below.

The method and system for intelligent routing in accordance with theembodiments of the present invention provide, for an incoming messagewith a designated destination, e.g. SMS, MMS, IM, email, voice mail, FAXand paging, a unified messaging intelligent routing service based on oneor more called attribute identities, the incoming call attribute, thecalled presence information and the current time. Thus the incomingmessage may be processed according to one or more routing contactmanners in the intelligent routing policy customized by the destinationsubscriber in advance, until the application of a contact mannersucceeds (the application of automatic message answer excluded) or theapplications of all contact manners are handle. When a message issuccessfully established, the destination subscriber may be notifiedthrough a contact manner customized in advance. Embodiments of thepresent invention are based on unified messaging system, the conversionof types of the message brought about by the unified messagingintelligent routing service is in the field of unified messaging systemtechnology and would not be described herein, where the conversionincludes the conversion of the content media in the message.

The second intelligent routing system in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention is shown in FIG. 3, including a unifiedmessaging server, an intelligent routing processing module and asubscriber presence information processing module.

The unified messaging server provides a unified messaging service andfunctions of converting and sending various types of messages.Generally, the unified messaging server is an independent physicaldevice.

The intelligent routing processing module provides the subscriber withhosting environment of a unified messaging intelligent routing service,it may be an independent physical device, e.g., an application server,with interface I1 being a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) interface;or, it may be configured, with the interface I1 being a self-defininginternal interface, in the unified messaging server.

The subscriber presence information processing module collects andpublishes the subscriber presence information, and provides subscriberpresence information needed in service control, including explicitpresence information and implicit presence information, and thesubscriber presence information processing module may be a logicfunction network element. Optionally the subscriber presence informationprocessing module may be an independent physical device such as apresence server, with the interface I2 being an SIP interface, and thesubscriber presence information processing module sends the subscriberpresence information to the intelligent routing processing module incertain manner; or the subscriber presence information processing modulemay be configured, with the interface I2 being a self-defining internalinterface, in the intelligent routing processing module.

The destination subscriber described in the method and system forintelligent routing in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention has a public identity that is identifiable and unique in thehome communication network of the incoming message, i.e., a destinationaddress. The public identity may be a cell phone number of thesubscriber, a URL address, a FAX number or the like.

The called attribute identity may be the destination address or thenumber of a group to which the called party belongs, and an intelligentrouting trigger condition includes the called attribute identity, theincoming call attribute, the called presence information and currenttime. An intelligent routing trigger condition may correspond tomultiple intelligent routing contact manners including keeping incomingmode, message forwarding, message converted to call, group sending,incoming messaging barring and automatic message answer.

The intelligent routing processing module receives a message ininterface I1 protocol format from the unified messaging server, acquiresthe destination address from the message and records the destinationaddress. The intelligent routing processing module searches theattribute data sheet of the destination subscriber in a manner, acquiresand records valid numbers of groups to which the called party belongs,e.g., Centrex group number, pickup group number, etc. A pickup group isa group in which all members may pick up an incoming message in amanner.

The intelligent routing processing module receives the message ininterface I1 protocol format from the unified messaging server, acquiresand records the incoming message attribute which may be one or anycombination of the caller address, the incoming message type and thecontent media type. The incoming message type includes SMS, MMS, IM,email, voice mail, FAX, paging, etc.; the content media type includestext, audio, video, picture, etc.

The called presence information is one or the combination of theexplicit presence information and the implicit presence information ofthe destination subscriber. The explicit presence information is thepresence information published by a subscriber in a network through ameans, e.g. through an SIP PUBLISH message which is from a subscriberterminal to the network and contains the presence information; theimplicit presence information is the natural presence information of thesubscriber terminal in the network, such as call states and networklocations. The methods through which the intelligent routing processingmodule acquires the subscriber presence information include thefollowing two.

Method A: the unified messaging server triggers a message containing thepresence information published by the subscriber or the natural presenceinformation through a means to the intelligent routing processingmodule. The message may be an SIP PUBLISH message, a call signalingmessage, a network registration message, a network de-registrationmessage, etc. The intelligent routing processing module acquires andrecords the subscriber presence information from the message

Method B: the subscriber presence information is maintained and managedby a presence server in the network and the intelligent routingprocessing module subscribes to the subscriber presence informationneeded at the presence server through a subscription message, e.g., anSIP SUBSCRIBE message. The presence server informs, e.g., through an SIPNOTIFY message, the intelligent routing processing module of thesubscriber presence information when the subscription message isreceived or when the subscriber presence information changes.

The destination subscriber has to customize intelligent routing triggerconditions and intelligent routing contact manners corresponding to theintelligent routing trigger conditions in advance so as to utilize theunified messaging intelligent routing service. Generally, intelligentrouting trigger conditions and intelligent routing contact manners canbe designed in the form of data sheet called unified messagingintelligent routing service data sheet. As the called attribute identitymay be the destination number or the number of a group to which thecalled party belongs, such as a Centrex group number or a pickup groupnumber, there are actually multiple call intelligent routing servicedata sheets, such as the subscriber unified messaging intelligentrouting service data sheet, the Centex group unified messagingintelligent routing service data sheet, and the pickup group unifiedmessaging intelligent routing service data sheet. Table 3 and Table 4below describe exemplary designs of the subscriber unified messagingintelligent routing service data sheet and the Centex group unifiedmessaging intelligent routing service data sheet respectively (the twodata sheets below do not include all possible fields and are not theonly format of such data sheets).

TABLE 3 Intelligent routing contact Notification Intelligent routingtrigger conditions manners manner Destination Incoming Called TimeProcessing Keeping Notification address message presence order No.incoming mode manner of a attribute information Message messageforwarding establishment Message success: converted to call IM, SMS,Group sending Paging, Incoming MWI, etc. messaging barring Automaticmessage answer

The processing order number includes Arabic numerals starting from 1,indicating the processing order of the contact manners of an intelligentrouting policy. Six intelligent contact manners are given in theexamples above and every entry set by the destination subscriber in thedata sheet may include only one contact manner, i.e., an intelligentrouting trigger condition plus a processing order number matches onlyone contact manner and one possible notification manner of a messageestablishment success. The notification manner of a messageestablishment success includes corresponding notification address, andmay be one of IM, SMS, Paging Messaging and Message Waiting Indicator(MWI).

TABLE 4 Intelligent routing contact Notification Intelligent routingtrigger conditions manners manner Number Incoming Called Time ProcessingKeeping Notification of the message presence order No. incoming modemanner of a Centrex attribute information Message message group toforwarding establishment which the Message success: IM, called convertedto SMS, Paging, party Call MWI, etc. belongs Group sending Incomingmessaging barring Automatic message answer

One intelligent routing trigger condition may correspond to one or morecontact manners with different processing order numbers, and multiplecontact manners organized in a series according to the processing ordernumbers form an intelligent routing policy.

The destination subscriber may set the unified messaging intelligentrouting service data sheets above in a manner according to his own wish,and the data in the data sheets will be loaded into the intelligentrouting processing module. The called attribute identity is a requiredfield while the fields of incoming message attribute, called presenceinformation and time are optional. If the subscriber does not set avalue for an optional field, the optional field will not be consideredwhile matching the intelligent routing trigger conditions.

The flowchart of the method provided by an embodiment of the presentinvention for unified messaging intelligent routing is shown in FIG. 4,including the following Blocks.

Block 41: a unified messaging server triggers an incoming message to anintelligent routing processing module without conditions or according tothe static configuration data. The incoming message may be SMS, MMS, IM,email, voice mail, FAX, Paging, etc.

In response to receiving an initial request of the incoming message, orin response to receiving a failure response to the incoming messageafter the incoming message is processed according to an original routingcontact manner of the incoming message, the unified messaging servertranslates the incoming message into a message in interface I1 protocolformat and sends the message to the intelligent routing processingmodule.

Block 42: the intelligent routing processing module triggers anintelligent routing service, acquires the destination address and theincoming message attribute (such as the caller address, the contentmedia type, and the incoming message type), searches the attribute datasheet of the destination subscriber according to the destination addressto obtain valid group numbers of groups to which the called partybelongs, e.g., the Centrex group number or the pickup group number. Theintelligent routing processing module composes an intelligent routingtrigger condition with the destination address, the incoming messageattribute, the called presence information obtained from the subscriberpresence information processing module, and current time. If thedestination subscriber has valid group numbers, different intelligentrouting trigger conditions may be composed with different group numbers,the same incoming message attribute, called presence information andcurrent time.

The trigger point at which the intelligent routing processing moduletriggers the call intelligent routing service for one incoming messagemay be one of the following three scenarios:

-   -   (1) the intelligent routing processing module triggers the        intelligent routing service once only in response to receiving        the initial request of the incoming message in interface I1        format;    -   (2) the intelligent routing processing module triggers the        intelligent routing service once only in response to receiving a        first failure response of the incoming message in interface I1        format;    -   (3) when the intelligent routing processing module has triggered        the intelligent routing service once in response to receiving        the initial request of the incoming message in interface I1        format and an application of the intelligent routing service has        failed, the intelligent routing processing module triggers the        intelligent routing service once again only in response to        receiving the first failure response of the incoming message in        interface I1 format.

Block 43: the intelligent routing processing module matches theintelligent routing trigger condition of the incoming message with theintelligent routing trigger conditions preset in the unified messagingintelligent routing service data sheet so as to obtain a correspondingintelligent routing policy, and the intelligent routing processingmodule provides the corresponding intelligent routing policy to theunified messaging server.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the called attributeidentity may be the destination address and the numbers of the groups towhich the called party belongs, so there may be one or more intelligentrouting trigger conditions for one incoming message. When theintelligent routing processing module triggers the intelligent routingservice, the intelligent routing processing module matches differentcalled attribute identities (e.g., the destination address, the Centrexgroup number of the called party and the pickup group number of thecalled party) and the same incoming call attribute, called presenceinformation and current time with all possible preset intelligentrouting trigger conditions. When more than one intelligent routingpolicy is obtained by the intelligent routing processing module for oneincoming message, every intelligent routing policy is processedaccording to an agreed or preset order, or only the intelligent routingpolicy with the highest priority is processed according to agreed orpreset priority. Referring to Table 3, the intelligent routingprocessing module searches the subscriber unified messaging intelligentrouting service data sheet according to the destination address,incoming call attribute, called presence information and current time,and obtains a subscriber intelligent routing policy if the searchsucceeds. Referring to Table 4, if the called party also has a validgroup number such as a Centrex group number, the intelligent routingprocessing module also searches the Centrex group unified messagingintelligent routing service data sheet according to the Centrex groupnumber, incoming call attribute, called presence information and currenttime, and obtains a Centrex group intelligent routing policy if thesearch succeeds.

The intelligent routing processing module sends to the unified messagingserver a message in interface I1 format. The message containsintelligent routing contact manners and possible notification manners ofa message establishment success corresponding to the contact manners bythe following means:

-   -   one message contains all intelligent routing contact manners        customized in advance and all possible notification manners; or,    -   the intelligent routing processing module sends a message        according to a predetermined order, the message containing a        contact manner and a possible notification manner corresponding        to the contact manner; if the unified messaging server fails to        apply this contact manner, a failure response is translated into        a message in interface I1 format by the unified messaging server        to be sent to the intelligent routing processing module, and the        intelligent routing processing module sends a second message        containing a second contact manner and a possible notification        manner according to the predetermined order, until the        application of a contact manner succeeds (automatic message        answer excluded), or until the applications of all contact        manners customized in advance are used up.

Block 44: the unified messaging server parses the message which containsthe intelligent routing contact manners, and performs correspondingmanagement on the incoming message until the application of a contactmanner succeeds (automatic message answer excluded), or until theapplications of all contact manners customized in advance are used up.

When the unified messaging server manages the incoming message accordingto the intelligent routing policy, if the application of a contactmanner succeeds (automatic message answer excluded), the unifiedmessaging intelligent routing service is terminated even though thereare still other contact manners that are customized in advance or otherintelligent routing policies left unprocessed. If the applications ofall contact manners fail (automatic message answer excluded) in anintelligent routing policy, the intelligent routing processing modulecontinues with the other intelligent routing policies when there arestill other intelligent routing policies to be applied, or the unifiedmessaging intelligent routing service is terminated when there are notother intelligent routing policies to be applied.

When a message is established successfully, the unified messaging servernotifies the destination subscriber of the incoming message through anotification manner of a message establishment success corresponding tothe contact manner, such that the destination subscriber may check theincoming message in time. IM, SMS, Paging Messaging and MWI may beemployed to notify the destination subscriber. For example, when theunified messaging server creates a voice mail for the destinationsubscriber, the destination subscriber may be notified through a shortmessage.

The intelligent routing contact manners above are described below.

First, the destination subscriber sets a contact manner of keepingincoming mode in the intelligent routing policy, showing that theincoming message is routed directly according to a contact mannerdesignated in the incoming message. The unified messaging serverprocesses the incoming message according to the contact mannerdesignated in the incoming message without modifying the incomingmessage until the incoming message is successfully established or failsto be established.

Second, the destination subscriber sets in the intelligent routingpolicy a contact manner of message forwarding. The contact manner ofmessage forwarding includes one or multiple forwarding destinationaddresses, and forwarding message types corresponding to the forwardingdestination addresses respectively. The forwarding message types mayinclude SMS, MMS, IM, email, voice mail, FAX and Paging Messaging.Through the contact manner of message forwarding, the incoming messageis forwarded to the forwarding destination addresses in turn accordingto a predetermined order until a forwarding destination address receivesthe message, or until none of the forwarding destination addresses couldbe reached. The unified messaging server processes each forwardingdestination address and forwarding message type corresponding to theforwarding destination address according to the predetermined order. Theunified messaging server first determines whether the incoming messagetype is identical with the forwarding message type. If not identical,the incoming message type is converted into the forwarding message type,including necessary conversion of the content media type. If identical,the incoming message need not be converted. Then the unified messagingserver initiates a new message request to the forwarding destinationaddress until the message is successfully established, or until none ofthe forwarding destination addresses can be reached.

When the forwarding message type does not support the content media typeof the incoming message, the unified messaging server determines whethera content media type can be converted to that supported by theforwarding message type, if yes, the unified messaging server convertsthe content media type, e.g., converts audio to text, text to audio, orthe like. The unified messaging server may apply for ASR media resourcesor Text-to-Speech (TTS) media resources to perform correspondingconversion. If the content media type can not be converted to thatsupported by the forwarding message type, e.g., the content media typeof the incoming message is a picture and the forwarding message type isSMS, the unified messaging server may include a URL link address of thecontent media of the incoming message in the forwarding messagetranslated.

Third, the destination subscriber sets in the intelligent routing policya contact manner of message converted to call, which includes one ormultiple call numbers, showing that media channels to the call numbersare established for the voice media contained in the incoming message orare established for the voice media forwarded from the incoming messageaccording to a predetermined order until a call number receives thevoice media, or until none of the call numbers can be reached. Theunified messaging server initiates calls to the call numbers accordingto the predetermined order until the terminal of a call number answers,then a media channel to the call number is established for the voicemedia contained in the incoming message or the voice media forwardedfrom the incoming message, thus the terminal may listen to theannouncement. Optionally the unified messaging server initiates calls tothe call numbers according to the predetermined order until none of thecall numbers can be reached. If the content media type of the incomingmessage is text, the unified messaging server applies for TTS mediaresources to convert the text into voice.

Fourth, the destination subscriber in the intelligent routing policysets a contact manner of group sending, which includes one or multiplegroup sending destination addresses and group sending typescorresponding to the group sending destination addresses respectively.The group sending types may be one of SMS, MMS, IM, email, voice mail,FAX and Paging. Through the contact manner of group sending, theincoming message is forwarded to all the forwarding destinationaddresses at the same time. The unified messaging server processes allgroup sending destination addresses and corresponding group sendingtypes at the same time. The unified messaging server first determineswhether the incoming message type is identical with the group sendingtypes. If not identical, the incoming message type is converted into thegroup sending type, including necessary conversion of the content mediatype; otherwise, the incoming message need not be converted. The unifiedmessaging server initiates a new message request to all group sendingdestination addresses at the same time.

When the group sending type does not support the content media type ofthe incoming message, the unified messaging server determines whether acontent media type can be converted to that supported by the groupsending type, if yes, the unified messaging server converts the contentmedia type of the incoming message, e.g., converts audio to text, textto audio or the like. The unified messaging server may apply for ASRmedia resources or Text-to-Speech (TTS) media resources to performcorresponding conversion. If the content media type can not be convertedto that supported by the group sending type, e.g., the content mediatype of the incoming message is a picture and the group sending type isan SMS, the unified messaging server may give a URL link address of thecontent media of the incoming message in translated contents of thegroup sending messages.

Fifth, the destination subscriber sets in the intelligent routing policya contact manner of incoming messaging barring, which includes one ormultiple barring rules, for example, the content of the incoming messageincludes a certain word. Through the contact manner of incomingmessaging barring, the incoming message will be barred. The unifiedmessaging server bars the incoming message directly and the applicationof such contact manner succeeds.

Sixth, the destination subscriber sets in the intelligent routing policya contact manner of automatic message answer, the contact manner ofautomatic message answer including pickup message contents inputted bythe subscriber in advance, showing that the pickup message contents arereplied to the incoming message automatically. The unified messagingserver directly replies the incoming message with the pickup messagecontents inputted by the subscriber, and the application of such contactmanner succeeds. When there are still other intelligent routing contactmanners left unprocessed after the application of automatic messageanswer has succeeded, these other intelligent routing contact mannersshall continue to be processed until the application of one of themsucceeds, or until the applications of all these other intelligentrouting contact manners fail, then the intelligent routing service isterminated.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the intelligent routingpolicy includes one or multiple contact manners customized in advance;whether the processing order of the contact manners is logicallyappropriate may be determined by the destination subscriber whilecustomizing the intelligent routing service without system intervention,or the system may provide data consistency check when the intelligentrouting service is customized and the data is set, and the dataconsistency check is performed according to some agreed conditions,e.g., incoming messaging barring may only be the last contact mannerusually in an intelligent routing policy, and the contact manner shouldnot be message converted to call when the content media type in theincoming message attribute is set as picture.

Similarly, the system may also determine whether the notification mannerof a message establishment success is appropriate through dataconsistency check according to agreed conditions, e.g., no notificationmanner of a message establishment success shall be set when the contactmanner is incoming messaging barring or automatic message answer, theincoming message type in the incoming message attribute of anintelligent routing trigger condition should not be the same as thenotification manner of the message establishment success set by thedestination subscriber.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiments of the present inventionadopt an intelligent routing processing module which sets intelligentrouting trigger conditions and corresponding intelligent routingpolicies in advance. In the embodiments of the present invention, anincoming call or message is processed in accordance with an intelligentrouting contact manner in an intelligent routing policy. The intelligentrouting trigger conditions include the called attribute identity, theincoming call attribute, the called presence information and the currenttime, and an intelligent routing policy may include one or moreintelligent routing contact manners. Therefore, according to theembodiments of the present invention, the problem of communicationrouting technology in the prior art may be solved with regard to thelack of routing contact manners and routing policies, and the subscriberpresence information may be fully utilized.

Particularly, the embodiments of the present invention provide thefollowing benefits for routing an incoming call.

First, the contact may be established for a voice or video call with adesignated destination through one or multiple contact manners preset bythe destination subscriber. If the destination subscriber wishes,session contact may always be established successfully for an incomingcall according to his design and current scenario, and an effectivecontact is always established for the incoming call through contactmanners available currently. In this way not only call completion rate,but also the income of operators is increased.

Second, the subscriber may conveniently design different routingpolicies for specific incoming calls, e.g., when the subscriber is on abusiness trip, an announcement recorded in advance may be played for anincoming call to inform the caller of current situations and theincoming call may be recorded and converted to an email.

Third, when a contact number of the subscriber changes, an announcementmay be played for an incoming call to inform the caller of the numberalteration and the current contact number, the incoming call may then beforwarded to the current contact number.

Fourth, an enterprise user may set a call intelligent routing policy forhis telephone exchange or hotline, e.g., it may set a first contactmanner to distribute calls among one or multiple pickup groups (operatorattendant groups), a second contact manner to make the incoming callsqueue, a third contact manner to convert calls to emails.

The embodiments of the present invention also provide technical meritsfor routing process in a unified messaging service.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, through one ormultiple contact manners preset by the destination subscriber, thecontact may be established for a certain type of messages withdesignated destination, such as SMS, MMS, IM, email, voice mail, FAX andpaging. The destination subscriber may always establish session contactsuccessfully for an incoming message according to his/her design andcurrent scenario, and always establish effective contact for theincoming message through contact manners available currently. Thereforethe technical solutions of the present invention bring about greatconvenience to subscribers.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the subscribermay easily design different routing policies for incoming messages. Forexample, when the subscriber is driving and it will be inconvenient forhim to check short messages, he may wish to convert the short messagesfrom his family to voice calls to be answered through an onboard mobilephone, then he may publish explicit presence information, stating “I′mdriving”, through an SIP PUBLISH message, and establish an entry in thedata sheet of unified messaging intelligent routing service of thesubscriber. In the data sheet, the caller address in the incomingmessage attributes is set as the cell phone number of his family, theincoming message type is SMS, the called presence information is “I′mdriving” and the contact manner is message converted to call.

Obviously, those skilled in the art may make numerous changes andvariations on the solution of this invention without departing from thespirit and scope thereof. Accordingly, it is intended that thisinvention includes the changes and variations in case that such changesand variations come within the scope as set forth in the appended claimsand the equivalent techniques thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a router in atelecommunication network for routing calls, the router comprising aprocessor configured to perform the method, comprising: receiving anincoming call from a calling terminal via the telecommunication network;acquiring relevant information of the incoming call and called presenceinformation from a presence server located on the telecommunicationnetwork, wherein the relevant information of the incoming call includesan identifiable unique public identity of a destination subscriber ofthe incoming call in the telecommunication network; matching therelevant information, the called presence information, and a currenttime with preset intelligent routing trigger conditions; obtaining anintelligent routing policy based on the matching; and routing theincoming call according to the intelligent routing policy.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the intelligent routing policy comprises one or moreintelligent routing contact manners.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe relevant information of the incoming call further comprises anincoming call attribute.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein theidentifiable unique public identity comprises one of a called number anda number of a user groups to which a called party belongs.
 5. The methodof claim 3, wherein the incoming call attribute comprises at least oneof a caller number, a media type of the incoming call, and a callattribute of the incoming call.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thecalled presence information comprises at least one of explicit presenceinformation and implicit presence information of the called party. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the called presenceinformation comprises one of: acquiring a message triggered by a callsession control function unit in the telecommunication network, whereinthe message includes the called presence information, and recording thecalled presence information from the message; and managing, by thepresence server in the telecommunication network, the called presenceinformation; subscribing to called presence information at the presenceserver; and, informing, by the presence server, the router of the calledpresence information if subscription information is received or if thecalled presence information changes.
 8. The method of claim 2, whereinthe intelligent routing contact manner comprises at least one of:incoming call barring, serial call forwarding, parallel call forwarding,call forwarding to a voice mailbox or a secretary station, converting acall to email, converting a call to data message, call distributing,call waiting, queuing a call, announcement pickup and callback register.9. A router in a telecommunication network for routing calls,comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein theprocessor is configured to execute the instructions to performoperations comprising: receiving an incoming call in a telecommunicationnetwork for routing calls; acquiring relevant information of theincoming call and called presence information from a presence serverlocated on the telecommunication network, wherein the relevantinformation of the incoming call includes an identifiable unique publicidentity of a destination subscriber of the incoming call in thetelecommunication network; matching the relevant information, the calledpresence information, and a current time with preset intelligent routingtrigger conditions, and obtaining an intelligent routing policy based onthe matching; and a routing unit, configured to route the incoming callaccording to the intelligent routing policy.
 10. The router of claim 9,wherein the intelligent routing policy comprises one or more intelligentrouting contact manners.
 11. The router of claim 9, wherein the relevantinformation of the incoming call further comprises an incoming callattribute.